It felt like a realistic portrayal of divorced and widowed characters. But it also felt like they were constantly denying feelings instead of confronting them
I was really unhappy with the 3rd act resolution. ( )

Enjoyed this small-town romance between two adults. Believable people living nice lives. ( )

This was a very sweet romance! Light, easy, and perfect for a summer beach read. Reading about Elle and Sawyer fall in love and get together was very enjoyable, and I really liked that they learned about and improved themselves along the way. There were a lot of steamy/smutty sex scenes, including phone sex and dirty texts. I didn't find them particularly scintillating, but I also didn't find them offensive.

I appreciated that Elle and Sawyer got their happily-ever-after and that the loose threads were wrapped up. The author did introduce a couple of characters in the novel and the final chapter makes it clear that they're the protagonists of her next book. I thought this was cute and well done - readers know who to look forward to next but aren't given a cliffhanger that minimizes the resolution of the current book.

My only criticism, and it's not a big one, is that some of the characters didn't ring particularly true for me - especially the men. Our male love interest, Sawyer, is far more in touch and open to discussing his feelings with his guy friend than any man I've ever met. He definitely reads more like a woman overall. The two sons also never really seem to fight with their parent or even each other, which didn't seem realistic to me.

I received an advance copy via NetGalley for this book, but it hasn't affected my opinion. This was my first experience with the author, Serena Bell. I'd read her again, although I probably wouldn't seek her out. ( )